Psychobabble

I forgot to mention the crux is protected by a bong piton that could be backed up with a cam. It looks fine, but some may be spooked by it. Sep 5, 2005

Just did it again. Thanks to the FA's - Ron Olsen and friends really did a great service to us by putting up this one. Apr 23, 2006

I've lobbed onto that bong - it held. What a great route. Feb 6, 2007

blabble...bobble...bepopple...mmmmmmm....brrrrrr.....

One of my favorites! Especially in the fall when it is one of the last routes to get sun in the area! Nov 6, 2007

Fun route, a little scary, and harder than its southward classic 10c neighbor Goodro's, most likely because I felt gear was harder to place and get to sit right. One fixed piton is available after traversing back right to the corner, and the old bong piton still appears, well, old and rusted but good enough. Aug 5, 2010

A little trickier than Goodros, particularly the gear, but it's all there. Awesome route that makes you think and stick with it. Apr 4, 2012

Nice route, the whole thing goes with nuts if you want to get a feel for how it was back in the day! Aug 16, 2012

Sometimes, but not always, there is a nest of hornets a quarter up the route... Jun 7, 2013

I found the crux to be the traverse down low -- pretty committing, thin moves a little ways out from gear. Once you get to the piton you're golden, but there isn't much for gear between the initial crack and the pin. Mar 16, 2014

Took a pretty bad fall attempting to get to the first pin that slammed me into the ramp on this one... Be solid at the grade and know that its a good run to the pin that you cannot blow. I thought I was pretty solid at the grade, but I guess my mental game on runnout quartzite face climbing wasn't where it needed to be. Will have to go back for the red point. Having gone back, it does look like it would have helped to place a high micro offset or peanut in the crack prior to the traverse, then not to over grip the traverse. All the holds are good just flow and before you know it you'll be at the pin. Climb safe folks! Jul 15, 2016

Sorry to hear Crag. I've always considered that traverse the crux of the route. The high nut on maybe a long sling is a good idea and after the traverse you can place a hand size cam in one of the pods (again probably on a long sling). A 0.5 camalot could also be placed at the creaky undercling flake but wouldn't want to take much of a fall on that! Oct 11, 2016

That is a bummer. I've always used offset HB's for this. The smaller aluminum one locks in tight right before the traverse and you can place it from the wrist-lock/hand jam. You can also place something a little higher but its a bit harder to finagle. Offsets seem to lock in best on this pitch in general. Oct 14, 2016

Just to provide a tad more detail on my onsight attempt. The last stopper was pretty low before I began the traverse, probably at my waist or a little higher than this. Then I desperately tried to plug a .4 X4 in a flared pod at the end of the traverse where you're still about 4' below the pin. I knew the placement might blow and just couldn't pull off the awkward mantlish move to get closer to the pin. Fell, blew the cam and my stopper finally caught me in time to deck into the ramp but not roll further. I don't think a cam would work that low down, you prob need to get like a foot or two higher than I did to get to the pods that Stan is talking about but perhaps I just didn't see what he mentioned. Would definitely bring offsets for this when I am ready to give it another try.. Thanks Ten and Stan for the gear input. Feb 10, 2017